7 Days Celebrates 150 Episodes

7 Days Celebrates 150 Episodes

7 Days reaches a major milestone this Friday, when the 150th episode of the hit series screens on TV3.

The 150th episode is a one-hour ‘NZ vs the World’ special, in conjunction with the NZ International Comedy Festival. Kiwi favourites Dai Henwood, Paul Ego and Ben Hurley will go head-to-head with international comedy stars Chopper (AUS), Carey Marx (UK) and James Acaster (UK), with Jeremy Corbett as host and referee.

7 Days debuted in 2009, a time when there was little local comedy on television screens. Featuring the talents of host Jeremy Corbett, team leaders Dai Henwood and Paul Ego, and many of our best comedians, it was an instant hit with viewers. Fridaynights became appointment viewing, and 7 Days’ hilarious and boundary-pushing content won it critical acclaim, numerous awards, and legions of fans.

Fast forward to 2014, and 7 Days is consistently one of the top-rating programmes on television. It is the lynchpin of TV3’s top-rating Friday night line-up, has played a key role in establishing TV3 as the Home of Comedy, and continues to go from strength to strength. The show has turned Kiwi comedians into national stars, with 7 Days LIVE shows selling out throughout the country and the studio audience waiting list currently sitting at 3300.

7 Days Producer, Jon Bridges has been there from the beginning and, along with the thedownlowconcept, was one of the key creators of the programme.

“150 episodes is a really exciting milestone and a great surprise,” he says. “When we started 7 Days we were hoping we would get to 15 episodes, but realistically we thought we’d be lucky to make 1.5. 150 is a lot more than that.

“We’ve managed to get through to our 150th with the core cast of Dai, Paul and Jeremy intact. To be honest we were sorting of hoping Jeremy would have moved on by now, or quietly passed away, but you can’t have everything.

“Our main feelings are surprise and gratitude; surprise that we’re still here, and gratitude towards TV3, NZ On Air and all the New Zealanders who watch every week.

“And we’d like to warn everyone that if it keeps going like this we’ll just keep making more episodes. We won’t stop until we are told to, and even then we’ll probably keep going – just making it in an empty studio for our own amusement.”

Mark Caulton, Director of Programming – MediaWorks TV congratulates the 7 Days team on a remarkable 150 episodes.

“7 Days looks effortless on-air, but comedy isn’t an easy genre, and the fact that 150 episodes in, the show is still bloody funny is testament to all the talented, hardworking people involved,” he says.

“Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the success of 7 Days, and to NZ On Air for their on-going support of a true Kiwi institution.”

Friday night will also be the launch of the first 7 Days Ask Me Anything (AMA) session, which follows the format made famous by Reddit. One of the 7 Days panellists will be announced as host of the AMA during the 150th episode tomorrow night, and viewers will be invited to start submitting questions for them – on any topic – from 10.30pm at TV3.co.nz/7Days. Seven days later, the host will answer the best viewer questions LIVE at TV3.co.nz/7Days, 9pm, Friday 2 May.

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